Istanbul, February 14, 2025–Turkish authorities must continue searching for those who masterminded the 2007 murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday, after a retrial in which an Istanbul court issued nine defendants with life sentences.
Lawyers representing the Dink family said they would appeal the February 7 verdict due to an “incomplete investigation and prosecution.”
Dink, founding editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot in Istanbul in 2007 after receiving multiple death threats regarding his work.
“After almost 20 years of trials and retrials of those who allegedly murdered Hrant Dink, the latest verdict has once again failed to satisfy the journalist’s family, who desperately need closure,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities must stop ignoring the Dink family lawyers’ demands for a deeper investigation if they are to achieve full justice for Dink and expose those behind the conspiracy to murder him.”
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The court handed down the following sentences:
- Muharrem Demirkale, life for “premeditated murder”
- Bekir Yokuş, life for “violating the constitution” and 10 years for “assisting in a premeditated murder”
- Yavuz Karakaya, 12 ½ years for “assisting in a premeditated murder”
- Ali Öz, Gazi Günay, and Okan Şimşek, life for “violating the constitution” and 25 years for “premeditated murder”
- Mehmet Ayhan, Hasan Durmuşoğlu, and Onur Karakaya, life for “violating the constitution” and 12 ½ years for “premeditated murder”
- Osman Gülbel, life for “violating the constitution” and 16 years and eight months for “premeditated murder”
- Veysel Şahin, 15 years for “manslaughter due to neglect”
The court also acquitted three defendants — Volkan Şahin, Şükrü Yıldız, and Mehmet Ali Özkılınç — in its retrial of 26 people who were found guilty of criminal conspiracy in 2021.
The court ordered the arrests of Yokuş, Ayhan, and Onur Karakaya, who were free pending trial.
On January 9, the same court reached a verdict in a parallel trial regarding the murder conspiracy. In that trial, prosecutors had accused defendants with alleged ties to a recently deceased preacher, whom the Turkish government claims had run a terrorist organization, of playing a role in Dink’s murder. Two defendants in that trial received life sentences for “attempting to eliminate the constitutional order,” while lesser charges against some of them were dropped.
CPJ’s email to the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul for comment did not receive a reply.
Committee to Protect Journalists
